Life has been difficult recently for the Los Angeles Lakers. JJ Redick’s team has dealt with injuries up and down the roster, including to LeBron James, and they’ve lost four of their last five games to slip back in the Western Conference playoff race. Last night’s loss to the Bulls, in which the Lakers gave up an 18-point fourth-quarter lead and lost on a Josh Giddey half-court buzzer-beater, was quite possibly the most painful loss any team has experienced this year.
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With only nine games left in the regular season, the Lakers couldn’t have picked a worse time to be experiencing so many issues. They’re tied with the Grizzlies for fourth in the West, but whereas they once seemed to be safe from the play-in, their recent skid has them within three games of falling below the sixth seed and having to earn their spot in the postseason.
Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith appeared on First Take this morning to express concern for the Lakers, because they don’t think the situation is going to improve in the season’s final weeks.
“The Lakers are in trouble,” Perkins said. “LeBron James is not healthy. I think he’s probably about 70, 75 percent. We’re talking about at a time when you’re supposed to be peaking going into the postseason, and the Lakers are trending backwards.”
“The Lakers are in trouble.” @KendrickPerkins and @stephenasmith react to the final seconds of the Lakers’ 119-117 loss to the Bulls. pic.twitter.com/rUysIVSGFi
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 28, 2025
Stephen A. agreed, and he pointed out that because of how difficult their upcoming schedule is, the Lakers should lose “five of their next six games“, which would really put them in peril of being caught by the Clippers, Warriors, and Timberwolves.
This could well mean a first-round playoff matchup with the Denver Nuggets, who’ve knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs each of the last two years.
The Lakers need to get healthy and start playing better before it’s too late
Jay Williams spoke a week ago about how the Lakers need to do all they can to get the 2-seed so that they can avoid the Nuggets in Round 1 and the Thunder in Round 2, but that ship has all but sailed. Houston is 3.5 games ahead of L.A. and playing great ball as they’ve won nine of their last 10, and because the Lakers have such a difficult closing schedule, it will be nearly impossible to put enough wins on the board to catch them.
“I am avoiding OKC at all costs until we get to the Western Conference finals. … I’m trying to avoid [Denver] too.”
—@RealJayWilliams on why the Lakers should go for the No. 2 seed in the West pic.twitter.com/AA21ZhoXzc
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 20, 2025
The Lakers do have two games remaining against the Rockets. They lost their only previous matchup, so if they can win both, they’ll not only gain two games but also have the tiebreaker if it comes to that.
They’ll also have to play out of their minds the rest of the way though, and with two games remaining in OKC (where the Thunder are an NBA-best 32-5), one at Memphis, one at Dallas in Luka Doncic’s first game back, and one at home against the Warriors, it’s still a steep uphill battle.
The Lakers’ primary focus needs to be on getting healthy to withstand the rigors of the postseason. LeBron is averaging less than 18 points in the four games since coming back from a groin injury, and that’s not going to get it done in the playoffs. If LeBron and Luka are both at or close to 100 percent, the Lakers can hang with anybody, Denver and OKC included. Without them, they probably won’t make it out of Round 1.
